The present invention relates to a novel storage device system that is capable of being connected on a plurality of different types of networks, and, more particularly, to a method of controlling activation of the storage device system.
In recent years, the amount of data being treated by a computer system has rapidly increased. In order to efficiently utilize and manage such an abundant amount of data, a technology has been developed for connecting a system, including a disk array composed of a plurality of disk drives (hereinafter, a storage device system), to an information processing system over a leased line network (or a storage area network (SAN)) so as to realize fast access to a large amount of information that is stored in the storage device system. In order to realize fast data transfer by connecting the storage device system to the information processing system over the SAN, communications equipment conformable to a fibre channel protocol is generally used to construct a network.
On the other hand, a network system of the type referred to as a network attached storage (NAS) has been developed for realizing access, at a file level, to a storage device system by interconnecting the storage device system that includes a plurality of storage devices and an information processing system over a network that adopts a TCP/IP (which stands for transmission control protocol/Internet protocol) protocol. Within the NAS, since a system having the capability of a file system is connected to the storage device system, the information processing system can gain file-level access to the storage device system. Recently, a large-scale NAS accommodating a storage device system, which is managed on the basis of/a RAID (redundant arrays of inexpensive disks) technology and includes a file system, is attracting attention because it provides an enormous storage resource, which has been referred to as a midrange-class or enterprise-class resource.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-351703
However, the conventional NAS is realized by connecting an information processing system, which has a TCP/IP communication feature and the capability of a file system, to a storage device system that has neither the TCP/IP communication feature nor the capability of a file system. An installation space for the connected information processing system is therefore needed. Moreover, the information processing system and storage device system are often interconnected over a SAN because of the need for fast communication. Communication control equipment and a communication control feature, therefore, must be included.